The Key
by Littlefoot22
Summary: Sg1 gets stranded on a desert planet. Not only do they have to find their way off, they have to help the people that got standed there 22 years before.
1. Default Chapter

As General Hammond strolled in to the briefing room the soft chatter ceased.

"Morning," Hammond said with that grin on his face telling us he knew full well we didn't like Saturday morning missions.

It was hardly a good morning when they all had to get up at 5:30am for work, O'Neill thought.

As Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, and Hammond settled into the uncomfortable chairs, Hammond handed out the briefing packets.

Just as O'Neill was asking himself why the Air Force couldn't give the SGC more comfortable chairs, Hammond began.

"As you all know, we have been sending MALPS to the new coordinates that O'Neill entered into our computers when he had the memories of the Ancients. We have been sharing these coordinates with the Tok'ra, hoping they would know of any of these planets. Up until now they have not."

Carter and Daniel looked like they were about to jump out of their seats.

Teal'c looked mildly interested, and O'Neill had a grimace on his face.

His dislike for the Tok'ra was legendary on the base.

"Recently they have identified a planet they thought to be without a Stargate; P3X-247. They had briefly visited this planet many years ago, and had not located the gate. They say it is a deserted wasteland; nothing but cliffs, desert, and a bit of vegetation. Your mission is to decide whether this planet is worth exploring. This is a potential spot for an new SGC site, so look out for civilizations, although from what the Tok'ra tell me, that is unlikely."

"Sounds simple enough," Daniel commented loftily.

"Indeed," Teal'c slipped in.

"But," there was always a 'but', O'Neill thought, "the Tok'ra have informed us that temperatures on this planet can be above 120F. Carter, I believe you have been on a mission like this before. You know what weather precautions to bring."

Carter nodded, and Hammond nodded back.

"Dismissed."

As everyone rose O'Neill was thinking that for once he could have a relaxing mission.

Of course, he was wrong.

Teal'c, Carter, and O'Neill were already in the gateroom by the time the dialing started.

Daniel trailed in fixing the strings on his floppy hat.

"Danny Boy!" O'Neill shouted gaily.

Daniel looked up warily.

"Oh don't give me that look," O'Neill said, still with a grin on his face.

Daniel knew what was coming.

"Jack."

"Daniel."

Teal'c and Carter tried to keep from grinning.

Daniel sighed.

"I am not going to make a bet about the mission with you again."

"Oh for crying out loud. It's not like it's going to hurt you," he paused, "What do you think it will be this time?"

"Last time I bet with you I lost a weeks paycheck."

Walter finally said over the intercom, "Chevron 7 locked."

The familiar swoosh came and went.

SG-1 trudged up the ramp to the shimmering pool.

O'Neill was in the lead but looked back at Daniel, Carter, and Teal'c.

"Well? No one wants to guess what is on the other side? I'm not taking any bets once we get there."

Daniel shook his head with slight smile on his lips.

Teal'c announced, "If I can recall correctly, last time I made a bet with you O'Neill, I did not fare well."

"I'm sitting this once out sir," Carter chimed in.

"Ok fine. Since no one else guessed, I'll make a wild one. We will be surrounded and at gunpoint when we get there."

"On a deserted planet?" Daniel looked incredulous.

"You never know," O'Neill smartly answered, turned around, and walked through.

When SG-1 arrived on P3X-247 O'Neill heard Daniel mutter, "I hate it when he's right."


	2. The Key: Part two

Double quotation marks "" "" indicate the foreign language used in this story.

Andrea received the message as she was walking into her study.

She ran the whole way there.

When she got to the great stone watch towers on the hill overlooking the valley, she straightened her disheveled worn robes.

She stopped to gaze at what was in the valley below her.

She saw the ring of sentries around the gate.

But what drew her attention most was what, or rather who, the sentries were circling other than the gate.

The four strangers looked oddly out of place with their clean tan colored clothing.

As she began the trek down the hill she chuckled.

_They_ probably felt out of place and uncomfortable with their fingers laced on top of their heads, and weapons on the ground.

Her eyes were first drawn to the man in the front who looked like the commanding officer.

She couldn't see much of his face since he was wearing a hat and dark eye glasses.

Even from afar, and even wearing the dark eye glasses she could tell he had a grimace on his face.

Her eyes turned to the man on the first's left.

She could recognize his type anywhere.

Gou'ld.

She shudderd.

She had had only one encounter with them, but that was enough to scar her for life.

She could still remember the screams of her mother.

The memories faded as she turned towards the light haired on.

Her eyes bugged.

A female.

Even if they were Gou'ld, her impression of the group went up a notch.

Even in her society, where woman had rights, women were not allowed to be soldiers.

Her light hair color was a surprise too.

She couldn't remember someone who didn't have dark hair.

She saw the females eyes roam the landscape.

A smart female too.

By then they had noticed her.

She saw them conversing softly glancing in her direction.

Her eyes finally turned towards the last of this odd group.

She coughed heavily, which caused her concentration to weaken.

She stumbled on a loose rock, but caught herself just in time.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

He was the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on.

If you ignored the eye glasses and that obscenely ugly hat that he wore, he would be perfect.

She couldn't tell for sure, but his eyes seemed to be a blue or green color.

She ripped her gaze away from the face from heaven to find Arkados.

She found him in the front line pointing his weapon at the group.

""Arkados!"" she yelled from about 20 foot paces away.

He head turned in her direction, but his gun hand didn't waver.

She flicked her head away from the group indicated that she wanted to speak with him privatly.

He nodded, turned his gazed back to the new group, and lowered his weapon.

She met him out of earshot of even the guards.

She only had to say one word.

""Explain.""

""We were doing our regular duties when the lights lit up around the gate.""

He looked reverently at the gate, then back at her with wide eyes.

""About 20 heartbeats went by when they stepped through. We already had already circled the gate and had our guns at the ready. We ordered them drop their weapons and raise their hands. I think they speak another language because they didn't look like they understood at first, but they got our drift.""

""Much thanks Arkados.""

""My pleasure.""

Without another word they both turned back to the gate and the awaiting foreign visitors.


	3. Part three

1Thanks to everybody who left reviews and tips. Don't worry Raquedan, I'm going in another direction in this chapter. I don't plan on using your storyline.

Regular quotation marks are for any dialogue in English, but double quotation marks indicate the foreign language used in this story.

O'Neill surveyed the situation

He hated being vulnerable, and having to put his weapons down and lace his fingers on his head was making him pretty vulnerable.

"I'm glad I didn't make that bet," O'Neill heard Daniel mutter.

"This does not seem to be a deserted wasteland," Teal'C whispered loudly.

"Is this one of those times when you're _trying_ to be sarcastic T?"

Teal'C just looked at him with his oh so familiar expressionless face and blinked a few times.

"Oh my gosh. Look around us. We are surrounded by ruins. They look to be from the Ancients. This is amazing."

A few beats passed when O'Neill asked, "What are the guards waiting for? They are just standing there staring at us."

"They are probably sending someone to get their leader," Daniel put in helpfully. "I hope I can get a chance to look at the ruins," he continued, looking around the valley.

"These people seem to be advanced, yet their clothing indicates otherwise. Those robes look like just a bit more than scraps, but their weaponry is very advanced. It looks like they have a modified version of the zat gun. Look, they even have snipers watching us in those towers over there."

As Carter said this SG-1 looked over at the towers on the hill overlooking the valley they were in, and noticed a female figure striding down the hill towards them.

Daniel was transfixed.

He looked at her slight form draped in tan robes, and sighed when he saw her ruly brown curls.

Daniel had always had a thing for curls.

He was busy studying her approaching form when she looked his way.

He thought he saw her stumble, but wasn't sure.

She looked at him a few more seconds, then frowning, turned towards the guards to shout something.

""Arkados!""

This Arkados acknowledged her prescence and went to talk to her out of earshot.

"This woman looks like the leader of these guards," Carter said, breaking the silence.

"She seems to be well respected by the guards," Teal'C added.

A few more beats went by when O'Neill started to say, "You know, my arms are getting tired," but was cut off by the approach of this mysterious woman.

She broke through the line of guards to stand in front of them.

She didn't wait long before addressing them.

""Who are you and where are you from?"" She said in a language foreign to the team.

SG-1 stood motionless staring at the woman.

"I think that language is derived from the Anasazi American Indians who lived on earth around 1000-1500," Daniel tentatively said, turning his head slightly to O'Neill.

"Well? Can you speak to her?"

"I'll try. If I'm not mistaken, I also heard some Mogollon, and surprisingly some Gou'ld."

He turned to the woman who had been scrutinizing their brief conversation.

""We are peaceful explorers from a planet called earth.""

She looked astounded that he had spoken her language, but quickly recovered, straightening her back.

""State your names,"" she said in complete seriousness.

""Daniel Jackson, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, and Teal'C,"" he said, pointing to the respective owners of the names.

He looked back at her to see her glaring at Teal'C.

""Explain him. He is a Gou'ld Jaffa, is he not?""

Daniel took a risk, and said, ""No, not anymore. He is a rebel Jaffa. He fights the Gou'ld now.""

She slowly turned to him and said with no change of expression, ""You are enemies of the Gou'ld?""

""Yes.""

She visibly relaxed.

""Our people will do you no harm if you do us no harm. You may gather your weaponry, but keep the guns down, out of the way. Come with me.""

She proceeded to turn around and shout to the guards, ""Stand down!""

"Daniel," O'Neill drew out his name. "Translation please."

Daniel said as he put his arms down, "We can get our weapons, but keep them hidden. She says to follow her."

As Sg-1 began to gather their gear Carter asked, "What did you say to have her trust us?"

"I said we are enemies of the Gou'ld."

O'Neill burst out, "Ah! For once those snake heads save our butts!"

The woman gestured for them to follow.

"Let's move out," O'Neill said.

As they followed her through the ruins and towards the towers Daniel said, "I'm going to talk to her to see if she has translated any of the ruins.

He ran to catch up with her.

"I hope she can tolerate having her ear talked off. This place is like heaven for him," O'Neill muttered.

As the mysterious woman and SG-1 trudged up the hill, Carter looked back at the Stargate and the DHD.

She noticed something odd about the DHD, but thought she was imagining it.

It's probably the heat playing with my eyes, she thought.

Much to her surprise, as she will later find out, her eyes were not playing tricks on her.


	4. Part four

Andrea knew one of the group would catch up to her.

She had provided no explanation, just directions to follow her.

Sure enough, not even 30 seconds later , she heard someone catching up to her.

She hoped it was the male with the sexy accent...wait...she didn't care who it was...much.

She turned to see Daniel, and quickly looked back up the path.

Yes!

Wait, by was she acting like an adolescent?

She was 29 for goodness sake.

""Hello,"" Daniel had caught up. ""I never got your name.""

She smiled slightly, ""Andrea.""

""Andrea, I like it,"" he paused, picking his words carefully. ""These ruins, how far do they go? Have you translated any of the carvings on them?""

They had reached the towers marking the entrance and exit to the ruins.

""This is the end of the ruins, but on the other side of the gate there are more ruins for about 800 walking foot paces,"" she replied.

They had stopped, waiting for the rest of the teams to catch up.

Once they had Andrea said, ""Daniel, please tell your friend Teal'C, to cover his forehead symbol. I mean no disrespect, but we are approaching the community and the people fear nothing more than the Gou'ld.""

When he had translated Teal'C nodded his head and began rummaging in his pack for the hat he always carried with him for this exact purpose.

After Teal'C had his black beanie firmly on his head, and after Andrea had commented that she would like one of these 'beanies', they set of toward the community.

After awhile SG-1 realized that they were being lead into what looked like a series of rock formations.

Daniel gave a gasp of recognition and surprise.

"They live here. They live in these caves," he exclaimed with a look of fascination on his face.

He looked back to see the bewildered looks from his team.

"Let me explain," he paused. "I can tell from their language that these people descended from the Anasazi and Mogollon American Indian tribes on Earth. When these two tribes had merged at around 1000 A.D. they went to live in the canyons in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah where they literally carved caves into the canyon walls. _This_," he waved his arm in the general direction of the rock formations, "is what these people have done."

They had just walked in between two canyon walls when the team looked up to see the caves in the walls that Daniel had spoken of.

Little and big heads were poking out from some of the caves to watch their odd procession.

Andrea stopped next to a canyon wall and pointed to something carved into it.

A ladder.

O'Neill groaned.

""We have to climb?"" Daniel asked Andrea.

""Yes. I am taking you somewhere where we can talk privately.""

Andrea turned to the cliff wall and began the 35 foot climb.

Daniel followed suit shouting back at his team, "Come on guys."

Carter quickly followed Daniel up the wall.

O'Neill looked at Teal'C with a grimace.

"Well, you heard him, go on."

"Are you coming O'Neill?"

"Yeah yeah," he sighed.

Teal'C started climbing, and with great reluctance O'Neill followed.

When they reached the top they realized they were on another pathway that had been carved out of the rock wall.

"Great, just great," O'Neill muttered.

After a few minutes of walking and climbing they reached a larger cave with a larger opening than the others.

SG-1 walked in to find this cave that looked eerily like Daniel's workroom when he was in the thralls of researching something.

Books, pamphlets, journals, and posters were scattered throughout the room.

In the middle of the cave/room was a small carved rock table and stool.

Along the back wall was a bench carved into the wall.

Books were scattered here too.

Andrea rushed to clear the bench

""Please, sit down.""

Daniel gestured to the bench.

As SG-1 sat down Andrea was trying to organize her papers, but to no avail.

She turned around after awhile, looking at her hands and sitting on the stool.

""I need to tell you how our people got to be here,"" she started. ""Our people are not originally from this planet.""

""I figured that out from your language. Your people are originally from earth, where we,"" he gestured to SG-1, ""live.""

She sighed, ""Yes, we are originally from your planet, but we only just arrived on _this_ planet.""

Daniel looked confused.

""Our people lived on a planet called Verena. It was ruled by a Gou'ld system lord Our people, who lived in a hot environment on earth, were selected to be slaves on Verena because it was a dry and desolate planet. We lived in slavery for around 600 planet revolutions. Then a marvelous thing happened. Our people had an uprising. The Gou'ld system lord left our planet. We lived in peace for another 200 planet revolutions.

She paused, giving Daniel time to translate.

The Gou'ld came back to our planet, Verena, 22 revolutions ago. Our people had just discovered the gate a few years before this. We had our top men and women of science working on figuring out how to work it. We tried hundreds of combinations of the symbols. We had discovered only one address that worked by the time the Gou'ld had returned to Verena. When the scientists found out that the Gou'ld were invading the city, they escaped with their families through the gate to the only known address...here.""

Andrea took a deep breath like she had let go of a huge burden.

Daniel translated.

"Did they ever go back to Verena?" Carter asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think she has finished yet."

Daniel turned back to Andrea with a patient look on his face.

"'We've tried to go home. The scientists had found out Verena's address before leaving, but it still didn't work. It won't work. It still won't work."" She ended with a deep breath of exasperation.

"'What won't work?"'

"'The dialing machine, it won't work.""

""It won't work?"" He looked confused. ""Does it not have enough power?""

Andrea looked like she was trying to think of an easy way to explain.

She suddenly turned around and went rustling through her papers and journals.

This gave Daniel time to explain what she had said.

"The DHD is the problem they can't leave?" Carter asked like she was fearing what the answer would be.

"Apparently," Daniel said.

Andrea turned around and handed Daniel two pieces of parchment.

The first looked like an intricate drawing of a standard DHD.

""This is the dialing machine on Verena,"" Andrea said.

Daniel handed the drawing to Carter sitting to his left and translated.

He glanced at the second piece of parchment and blinked a few times.

"'And this is the DHD on this planet,"" Andrea mumbled forlornly.

Carter passed the first sheet of parchment to O'Neill and Teal'C on her left and leaned over the paper Daniel was transfixed with.

It seemed like another drawing of and ordinary DHD, but after a second glance she gasped.

Carter squinted and pointed to the slight difference in the drawing from the first.

"What is that?"

"I don't know. She says this is the DHD on this planet."

A look of recognition appeared on Carter's face.

"It can't be," Carter whispered.

A few seconds of silence went by before O'Neill spoke.

"Carter, just say it," O'Neill said through slightly clenched teeth.

She looked up, glanced at O'Neill, back at the drawing, took a deep breath, and began, "When I was blended with Jolinar I not only received her bad and good memories, but also her general knowledge. I remember someone telling her about a planet that they had visited by ship. It was a type of prison planet, like the one we visited to save my father, but this was supposed to be abandoned. It was said to have been used by an ancient race, but definitely not the Gou'ld."

"The only ruins on this planet are of the Ancients," Daniel added helpfully.

"So, this planet was a prison planet for the Ancients?" O'Neill asked, trying to keep up.

"But there's a problem," Carter said, grimacing.

O'Neill sighed. "There always is. Spit it out Carter."

"It was said that you would need a key of some degree to get off this prison planet. It was a precaution so that the prisoners could not escape the planet even if they escaped their prison cells."

Daniel filled in Andrea on what was being said.

"'We came to that conclusion when we first got here. We have searched the hills and caves for 22 years and found nothing. We can not get off this planet. If the key was here, we would have found it. Unless you and your friends have a solution, you are stuck here too.""

Daniel translated and silence befell the cave/room.

Well, O'Neill thought, he deserved a vacation now and then.


End file.
